A two-time Uzbek league Player of the Year during the 1990s, Bugalo was his country’s first-choice goalkeeper until a disastrous Asian Cup campaign in Lebanon in 2000, when he conceded 14 goals in three games as the central Asian side crashed out in the opening round.

Following that debacle, Bugalo spent much of next few years in international exile and played for clubs in Russia and Kazakhstan before returning home to join Tashkent side Kuruvchi.

However, his excellent from this season for the newly-promoted Uzbek league outfit was impressive enough to earn him a recall from Uzbekistan national coach Rauf Inileyev earlier this year.

The 1.85-metre tall goalie is clearly delighted to have regained the number one jersey.

"I am very glad that I am back with the Uzbekistan national team as I had not played for them for six years," said the 32-year-old.

"Of course, I had both good and bad times as a national player and the Asian Cup in 2000 was one of the reasons I lost my place.

"I was invited to join the national team again after that but I didn’t get into the starting squad because of injuries and other matters that prevented me from sharpening my capabilities.

"But now I am ready once again to help the Uzbekistan national team."

Despite his long international exile, Bugalo accepts that he still has a leadership role in the team, as the only member of Uzbekistan’s 23-man Asian Cup squad over that age of 30.

"We have leaders on the team like Server Djeparov, who was the captain against Iran," he explained.

"But I understand that I am a senior player in the Uzbekistan team and that I can be a leader on the field and help my teammates with my experience."

Despite the opening setback against Iran, he remains confident that the central Asian side can still reach the last eight of this year’s competition.

"We should have won the game but last night, we let Iran score two easy goals. We could have gone on to win the game but our defence did not play well in the second half.

"Of course, we have chances to progress and if we can play like we did in the first half during our remaining games, we can still take six points and go on to the next round."